Preparing for the post-cookie world: Less than a third of marketers have a “robust measurement system” in place
The demise of third-party cookies has been the talk of the marketing industry for years now – with Google, which plans to disable third-party tracking cookies for an initial 1% of Chrome users in early 2024, the last major browser to eliminate them. But Google’s repeated delaying of its own deadline may have given marketers a false sense of security.
Findings from Econsultancy’s newly-published Future of Marketing 2023 report, which surveyed more than 800 marketing professionals to determine the trends shaping the industry, show that just 8% of marketers say they are “Fully prepared” for the forthcoming cookie crackdown, with a further 22% declaring that they are “Mostly prepared”.
The industry has undergone some shifts away from its reliance on third-party cookies for measurement and tracking, but are they enough?
A third-party cookie is a cookie that is set by a website other than the one you are currently visiting. For example, if you visit a website that has a “Like” button from Facebook, Facebook will set a third-party cookie on your browser. This cookie can then be used by Facebook to track your browsing activity across other websites.
Third-party cookies are often used for advertising purposes. Advertisers can use these cookies to track your browsing activity and target you with ads that are relevant to your interests. They can also use these cookies to measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.
Third-party cookies can also be used to track your online behavior for other purposes, such as market research or fraud prevention.
There are a number of reasons why you might want to block third-party cookies. First, they can be used to track your browsing activity without your knowledge or consent. This can be a privacy concern, especially if you are concerned about your online activity being used to target you with ads.
Second, third-party cookies can slow down your browsing experience. This is because your browser has to make an additional request to the third-party website every time it loads a page that contains third-party content.
Third, third-party cookies can be used to track you across multiple websites. This means that advertisers can see what websites you have visited and what you have done on those websites. This can be a privacy concern, especially if you are not comfortable with advertisers knowing about your online activities.
If you are concerned about your privacy, you can block third-party cookies in your web browser. Most browsers have a setting that allows you to do this.
Here are the steps on how to block third-party cookies in Google Chrome:
- Open Chrome.
- Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the window.
- Select “Settings”.
- Scroll down and click on “Privacy and security”.
- Click on “Cookies and other site data”.
- Under “Block third-party cookies”, select “Block all third-party cookies”.
You can also block third-party cookies in Firefox, Safari, and Edge. The steps are similar to the steps for Google Chrome.
Blocking third-party cookies may affect the functionality of some websites. However, it is a good way to protect your privacy and improve your browsing experience.
